


Battling Verdict

by WritingCoffeeAddiction



Series: Drabbles & One-shots [8]
Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: Alternate Universe - Food Service, Assault, Canon Lesbian Character, Co-workers, Drama, F/F, Fast Food, Friendship, Light Angst, Lust, Lust at First Sight, Making Out, Mean Customer, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Surprise Kissing, Workplace, Workplace Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-20 20:28:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11928666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingCoffeeAddiction/pseuds/WritingCoffeeAddiction
Summary: Lorna takes up a job at a local fast-food restaurant. But what happens when an angry customer decides to physically assault her for a simple mistake? Who will come to her rescue? Lorna/Nicky (Friendship-based)





	Battling Verdict

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the show or characters. All I own is the writing and story.  
> Warning: This contains some depictions of violence.

Battling Verdict

Dealing with customers is something that troubles Lorna as she makes her way into the fast-food restaurant for her first day. All through school, she's always tended to have a difficult time communicating with other's. Her optimistic and cheerful personality only seems to put increasingly more people off from her—they claim there must be something wrong with her,  _no one can be that happy all the time_.

She lets out a small breath of air and forces her usual cheery smile onto her face. Carefully, she walks inside and over to the counter. "Hi, uh, today's my first day on the job. My name's Lorna Morello," her voice nervously greets the woman on the other side—who seems a bit disgruntled, she notes.

"Ah, yes, Lorna Morello—Alex informed about ya starting today," the redhead says with a slight head nod. She looks the other, shorter, woman over and can't help the small smirk that spreads across her face. "I'm Nicky, I'll be training you today. Ever worked customer service before or just worked in general?"

Lorna slowly nods her head with a kind smile on her face. "I mean I used to babysit my neighbors in high school but that's pretty much it. I ain't ever worked in a restaurant or nothin' like that," she quietly responds.

With a light chuckle, the taller woman shakes her head. She motions for her to follow her back to the employee room where she hands her a uniform, "This isn't anything even remotely close to babysitting. But I mean once I show ya what to do and everything, it will be real easy. You seem like a people person, so I don't see any problems. Go change into this uniform and then I'll show ya how to work the registers."

* * *

 Ten minutes pass by before Lorna returns in her new work uniform. She spends the next hour learning how to take orders and, soon enough, has a short line of customers to wait on. Her nerves start to kick in somewhat but with Nicky only a few feet away, she tries not to let them eat at her—at least, if necessary, she'll have someone to help her if anything goes wrong.

The first two customers make it easy for her and she happily hands them their tray of food with a genuine smile on her face, wishing them a great afternoon as they head on their way. The next order starts off nicely, Lorna thinks while she keys it into the register and after goes over to get a fresh cup of coffee poured for the older gentleman.

But the minute she accidently adds a second tiny cup of creamer into his steaming cup, she feels his breath on her face. Her legs lightly tremble beneath her as she stares timidly across into the angry customer's menacing eyes.

"I wanted  _one cream_  and  _two sugars_  not fucking one sugar and two creams! What the fuck's wrong with you? Do you not know how to listen? You incompetent little whore—how did ya make it through fuckin' school?" He shouts in her face, impatiently watching for her to retrieve the rest of his order.

Her hands tremor slightly, making it difficult to carry the bag of food over to him. What a way to start off her first day, she silently thinks. She can't even find her voice let alone defend herself when she realizes what's happening right before her eyes. When the feeling of hot coffee and the sight of a hamburger bun covers over her eyes, she lets out a small cry—her entire body is soaked in burning caffeinated coffee.

"Get the fuck outta here before I call the police," Nicky yells, coming over the minute she saw what happened. Her teeth clatter in anger as stares at the man on the other side of the counter. It sickens her deeply to see how nasty these customers can be, especially to new employees who barely know what to do. "I mean it get the fuck out—you have absolutely no right to abuse any of the employees in this establishment and I will see that you're arrested if you don't leave within the next ten seconds!"

The man rolls his eyes, staring darkly across at Lorna. He bends half-way over the counter and says to her, "It's people like you who are the reason why the rest of us have to work twice as hard because you can't even listen to a simple fucking direction on how to make a simple cup of damn coffee! And dumb fuckers like you want fifteen bucks an hour for being a total reject? Go get an education ya bitch!" He screams at her, not caring that his saliva is running down his face and landing on her.

Fuming, Nicky harshly walks over to him and forces him to walk out of the building. Before heading back inside, she gives one last angry stare at the man. "People as nasty as you are the reason no one wants to work in customer service. You're nothing but a miserable piece of shit and a burden to society—if ya ever walk into this building again, I will make sure you're sent to jail. Now get the fuck out and don't come back," she hisses while pushing him out the door and watching to make sure he gets in his car.

Once she's confident he's gone, she quickly heads back inside and over to the distraught – covered in burning hot coffee and greasy food – new employee. With a small sigh, Nicky carefully helps her into the restroom and locks the door so no one else can enter. "I'm sorry you had to deal with such a piece a shit customer on your first day—you okay, kid?" She kindly inquiries, getting some paper towels to help dry off her clothes.

"Well, uh, if I wasn't so job-desperate that probably woulda made me wanna quit but, uh, I can't…so I hope that's not an everyday occurrence," the brunette timidly responds, dabbing cold paper-towels desperately over her body—trying to cool down the extreme heat from the coffee.

"I know that's a horrible fuckin' way to start of the job! I'll make sure nothing like that ever happens to you again—if that piece of shit ever sets foot in here again, he'll be getting a one-way ticket to jail. Ya sure you're okay—are ya hurt at all, he did fuckin' pour steaming hot coffee on ya!" She looks the shorter woman over with a worried expression sitting on her face.

Lorna slightly shrugs, looking intensely at her reflection in the mirror. Sure, there's grease and French fries all matted within her hair and her skin feels sticky from the hot beverage but she's not certain any of that can be classified as pain. "I'm okay, I think. Just looks like I walked through a dumpster is all," a small laugh escapes her, and in turn causes a laugh to find its way out of her manager.

Giving a friendly pat to her shoulder, Nicky can't help but smile at her. "Sounds like you'll fit in perfectly round' here, kid. But are ya sure ya don't have any burns on your skin from that coffee? Those could be serious and would warrant ya go to see a doctor or somethin'. I rather ya not be burned to death on your first day!" Another laugh is shared between the two women.

"Nah, I think I'd know by now if it was anything serious. I'll just take a cold shower when I get home to be safe, but I'm pretty sure I'll live to finish my shift."

Shaking her head with a chuckle, this woman's enthusiastic work ethic somewhat aback takes Nicky—especially after such a terrible encounter in only her first hour on the job. "As much as I love how enthusiastic you are to get back to work, I rather have ya go home and get yourself cleaned up. And even if ya aren't too seriously injured, I want you to go to an urgent care clinic just to make sure. I know you said you're desperate for money and everything, so I'll make sure ya get paid for the entire shift ya were scheduled for. Believe me, when I tell the boss what happened, she will definitely understand and agree with what I'm doing for ya."

The brunette lets out a small sigh but slowly nods her head. That's a fair deal, she internalizes. "Are ya sure that's okay?"

"After what ya been through this morning, that's the least I can do for you. I can't force ya to go back to work the condition you're in, kid. Go home, shower, and get yourself taken care of. And then you'll be good to go for tomorrow," Nicky kindly informs her. "Oh, and, there's a work thing tonight if ya feel up to coming—you can meet some other coworkers and stuff. Everyone's pretty cool."

* * *

 It's just past eight when Lorna slowly makes her way into the bar that Nicky clearly stated their work get-together is supposed to be. Within minutes of searching the room, she catches a glimpse of a familiar redhead and immediately walks over.

"Over here, kid," Nicky waves her over with a smirk on her face. Once the brunette is seated beside her – the only spot that is left – she carefully looks her over. "Ya go get yourself checked out by a doctor? Good to go for tomorrow, yeah?"

"Checked by a doctor? What the hell happened and how come I never work on days that crazy shit happens?!" A long-haired Hispanic woman questions with her arms folded over her chest.

The redhead stares cautiously at the petite woman beside her, who just smiles and gives a small shrug. "Some piece a shit old man got mad at her for putting two creams in his coffee instead of one—and then had the nerve to dump steaming-fucking-hot coffee all over her and the entire bag of food on her!" Her voice roughly speaks; she can still feel a bit of anger from the previous event.

Another Hispanic woman, whom sits beside the black-haired one, shakes her head as she puts a handful of nachos into her mouth. "I hate that dumbass—he's always comin' in lookin' for trouble. What an asshole, sounds like he needs some hot coffee dumped on him," she says through her mouthful of food.

"Sounds like I better spend more time watching over the store. All these idiots think they can come into my building and harass my hard-working employees. Not on my watch," a thick Russian accent firmly tells. The woman shakes her head angrily but looks over at her newest employee with a sympathetic look in her blue eyes. "I'm so sorry that had to happen to you—especially it being your first day. Is there anything I can do for you? Do you need money for the doctor visit you had? It's the least I can do after such a nasty incident."

"Oh no, it's fine. I'm fine. No big deal," Lorna smiles, slightly shaking her head.

The older woman sighs. "Too sweet this one is. You need to be more assertive so this doesn't happen again. You don't want customers walking all over you, do you?"

"Come on, Red, leave the kid alone. It's not her fault he did this to her. He's just a bitter asshole. He'd a done that no matter if she was more assertive or not. And besides, so what if she's too sweet? Can't change someone's inborn-nature," Nicky crosses her arms resistively.

The brunette stares down at her hands, uncomfortable with the situation. An environment filled with mostly strangers definitely isn't helping her high anxiety. "Customer's always right though. So, it's better I not say anything and just let them dish out their unhappiness. So what if I had coffee drenched on my body and greasy food running through my hair—it coulda been a whole lot worse if I yelled back or said something to the man."

" _Damn_ —I think we just got ourselves a new employee of the month! The rest of us woulda done somethin' stupid and here she is takin' it like a true saint," one of the Hispanic employees exclaims.

* * *

Hours go by when Lorna realizes it's time she calls it a night. She smiles and gives a friendly wave to everyone as she starts heading for the door, "It was real nice getting to meet everyone—I really enjoyed this. See ya guys tomorrow or sometime in the future at work. Thanks again for telling me to come, Nicky."

Nicky rushes to follow her out the door—deciding to call it a day herself—and slowly walks with her to the parking lot. "You're a real sweet person, ya know that?"

"Thanks," the brunette cheekily smiles, barely noticing the heat coming off her cheeks. "You're a real fun and, uh, to the point person to be around."

With a light chuckle, Nicky nods and lustfully stares the petite woman down. "Well, then, why don't I get to my point?" Her lips barely an inch from the other's face as she says this. She lets a hand gently brush through Lorna's soft hair. "You're one hell of a beautiful woman—anyone ever tell ya that, kid?"

Lorna's eyes widen. She stares up at the other with her mouth gaped open. "Oh, uh, you're a lesbian? N-not that there's anything wrong with that, of course—I-I just I didn't…you don't…I'm sorry?" Her words nervously stumble out; she looks down in shame of herself, not sure of what to say.

"Hey,  _hey_ ," Nicky softly breathes out, gently pushing the younger woman up against her car and brushing her fingertips lightly along her arms. "It's okay, kid. Don't fret over it. And yes, I am indeed a lesbian. I assume you're not with how shaky and fearful ya are.  _Calm down_ , there ain't nothin' to be afraid of; I'm not gonna hurt ya."

"I-I I'm just kinda surprised and confused at the, uh-um, turn of events here. I kinda wasn't expecting to be a hit on by one of my managers on my first day. S-sorry," Lorna's voice gets higher with each shake.

Cupping her hands softly—but hungrily—around her face, Nicky smiles and smashes their lips together in a heated kiss. Ever since this morning – the first second she laid eyes on the new employee – she's been lusting to kiss her on those bright-red, perky lips. "Don't be sorry. You looked like you needed to be kissed after the day ya had, kid. Ya needed to be told how sweet and beautiful of a human being you are. You don't deserve to be harassed by asshole customers and I swear if I see anyone else give ya trouble, I'll fucking be right there to defend ya. We can't afford to lose such a sweet-souled employee like you over some idiot customers," she purrs warmly against Lorna's lips.

With one last kiss, Nicky caresses her tenderly on the cheeks and then carefully releases her. "See ya at work tomorrow, kid. Go home and rest, ya look exhausted." 


End file.
